New York City’s most iconic skate park is finally back.

Located underneath the Brooklyn Bridge at the intersection of Pearl Street and the Avenue of the Finest (a nod to the nearby police headquarters), the so-called Brooklyn Banks reopened on the 140th anniversary of the bridge overhead as part of a new, expanded public space called the Arches. The park’s ribbon-cutting ceremony took place Tuesday morning, bringing back skateboarders after more than a decade of shutting them out.

Ian Clarke, a New York City resident for 33 years who has been skating since 1975, considers the Brooklyn Banks to be at the root of the city’s skateboarding culture. He says that this spot is beloved by the community because of its inclines that were typically hard to find before there were skateparks in the city, the character of the brick surface and the relative isolation.

“Incline surfaces are awesome for tricks. [Skateboarders] can get endless fun out of incline surfaces,” Clarke said at the reopening. He’s become a community advocate for skate parks as a part of the New York City Skateboard Coalition. “That was the draw of the Banks.”

Despite being a pillar of the East Coast skateboarding scene since the 1980s, the Brooklyn Banks had an uncertain future for many years. The first skirmish occurred in the early 2000s, with the park losing some ground despite skateboard advocate Steve Rodriguez’s best efforts to keep the area skater-friendly. Then again, Rodriguez and the skateboarding community fought in the 2010s to keep ahold of the park — and lost.

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